The present invention relates generally to the field of protective equipment and, in particular, to a new and useful arrangement of a hard shell with one or more shock absorbing inserts for use in a variety of athletic equipment such as football and other sports helmets, shoulder pads, shin and hip guards, as well as in other forms of protective equipment.
The use of protective equipment in both professional and recreational sports as well as in other activities has long been common. Additionally, protective helmets are often used by those who enjoy activities such as motorcycling and horseback riding. In fact, for some activities, the use of helmets and padding is required by law. Similarly, protective helmets and padding have been mandated for those who participate in professional sports. For example, for several decades the use of protective helmets and padding has been mandatory for athletes who play in the National Football League and the National Hockey League. More recently, protective padding and helmets have gained some acceptance and popularity in sports such as baseball and boxing.
In each case, these devices function to absorb the dangerous and abrupt transfer of energy experienced upon contact with, for example, the body of another player or participant, the projectile being used, the ground, or the first of a competitor. The prior art has sought to protect participants of these activities in several ways and over the years, protective athletic padding and helmets have undergone several improvements.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,962 to Shorten et al. discloses a shock absorbing component having a pair of surfaces with a plurality of inwardly extending indentations in the top and bottom surfaces. The indentations extend between the surfaces to provide support members for the shock absorbing component. At least some of the indentations are hemispherical. The surfaces may be formed of mesh material to allow the passage of gas or fluid therethrough. One or more inserts may be placed in the indentations. The shock absorbing component can be constructed by molding upper and lower shock absorbing component halves wherein the molds are configured to provide indentations in the top and bottom surfaces. The upper and lower halves are then joined to complete the shock absorbing component.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,472 to Shultz discloses a protective device, such as a boxing helmet, rib or muscle protector, athletic mat, hockey helmet, motorcycle helmet and similar devices, that is formed such that the major shock absorption effect is accomplished by a series of bowed, preferably plastic, members which flex when the device is subjected to an impact, so as to absorb the shock and dissipate its transmission to the user. Because of-the nature of these bowed members, when the shock has been dissipated, the member returns to its original position so as to be able to absorb further shocks.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,553 to Derderian et al. discloses a shock absorbing sole member used in an athletic shoe having an upper and a sole. The shock absorbing sole member is comprised of an insert member and elastomeric foam encasing the insert member. The insert member is formed of resilient plastic material and includes a plurality of transversely and longitudinally spaced discrete shock absorbing projections. The elastomeric foam has a low hardness of less than 70 on the Asker C scale.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,045 to Desrondiers discloses a cellular core structure building element in the form of a three dimensional arrangement of pyramidal elements in a continuous rectangular pattern interconnected at their bases by a base plane panel. The pyramid elements are normally void internally to form a structurally strong. lightweight panel. The common pyramid structure is modified by truncating the top of the pyramid to form a top face and by flattening the side face edges to form edge faces thereby creating a pyramid with a top face, four side faces and four edge faces. For best strength as a construction or building material, two cellular core structure sheets are superimposed one on the other by inverting and offsetting one relative to the other such that when mated the pyramid elements of one sheet fit between the pyramid elements of the other so that mating faces may be attached. Continuous face sheets may be added to the external faces of the structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,777,062 to Skaja discloses a flexible shock absorbing component providing cushioning for surfaces, especially wall and floor surfaces. The shock absorbing component includes two sheets of thermoplastic, each sheet with inwardly facing, opposing, resiliently compressible indentations extending into a cavity between the two sheets. The shock absorbing component also includes a layer of particulate matter applied to and adhered to the outer surface of one of the sheets, to provide wear and weather resistance. A moderator may also be attached to the outer surface of the sheet.
U.S. Patent Application 2006/0177635 to Pepe et al., discloses a two-layer structural material of sandwich design which comprises opposed, generally planar sheets having interlocking protrusions. The material may be formed of plastic resin, metal, paper, paperboard, or composite material and has increased rigidity over single sheet material without the complexity of 3-layer materials such as corrugated board and honeycomb-cored structures.
These known designs, however, suffer from an interference between adjacent projections that is here called parallelograming. That is, when the projections are compressed to a ceratin point, because the projections are either touching or are very close to each other, the shock absorbing effect is compromised. When two neighboring projections start to compress as a result of an impact, their side walls move outwardly and come into contact with each other. As the pad is compacted, the walls of the adjacent projections end up in a position where they act as a perpendicular support member between the two opposing sheets at which point the padding will have virtually no give and will thereafter transfer the force of the impact directly to the wearer.
Additionally, good ventilation is an important characteristic for any padding member, but is lacking an many prior art pads.
Furthermore, the prior art has sought to protect players and participants of various sports and activities through the advent of various helmets and helmet configurations.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,761 to Jurga et al. discloses protective headgear which is defined by a forward substantially concave rigid shell and a rear substantially concave rigid shell which are interconnected. This patent uses resilient straps which snap together portions of the forward shell to edge portions of the rear shell. A rigid framework which has a relatively large view opening is also employed;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,786 to Maddux et al. discloses a helmet which includes a shell having a front surface, a rear surface, a first side surface and a second side surface, wherein the front, rear, first side and second side surfaces define an interior space. The Maddux et al. patent further includes straps with first and second ends attached to the shell, wherein the straps form a receptor within the interior space.
A further example is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,213 to Rovani which discloses a shock-absorbing system for use in protective helmets such as football helmets or crash helmets. Rovani includes an impact-resistant shell, a plurality of webs secured to the inside of the shell in the crown portion, and a plurality of flexible plastic compartments containing foam secured to the webs, the compartments being interconnected by means of orifices of relatively small size and the interior of the compartments being at atmospheric pressure or slightly above.
Irrespective of shell shape and other helmet features and arrangements, the helmets and headgear in the prior art use forms of padding which are currently known, examples of which were discussed above. Those who wear helmets of the prior art that use plural projections are still exposed to the added risk of injury due to the problem of parallelograming decreasing the shock absorbing effect.
There is therefore a need for an improved protective arrangement of the type disclosed and claimed below.